It's January 2020. Trump has signed single-payer into law, as well as...

[Blue3]

It's January 2020.

After getting a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate in 2018, the nonideological and desperate Trump signs on to all the progressive economic measures, and more, that they deliver to his desk (and they were almost all sponsored by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison, etc.)

Trump has signed into law:
1. Single-Payer Healthcare, also allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices and allow drug importations from other countries like Canada
2. universal mandatory paid family leave, sick leave, and vacation leave
3. $15/hour minimum wage
4. tax reform that includes the Buffet rule for millionaires, a carbon tax, and a financial transaction tax
5. elimination of the payroll FICA tax cap, and expanded Social Security... and transitioning Social Security into a Universal Basic Income for people of all ages that begins to replace many government bureaucracies
6. elimination of tax deductions/credits that favor the rich and wealthy corporations
7. a $3 trillion infrastructure bill
8. Single-Payer College for any student who keeps up at least a 2.0 GPA
9. Affordable Childcare
10. Universal PreK
11. Criminal Justice Reform (end for-profit prisons, low-level offenders not having mandatory minimums, nonviolent offenders offered treatment not jail, encourage police body cameras, requiring transparent databases where police have to report all violent incidents involving them or deaths/injuries while in police custody to the public, funds for police training on alternative approaches to de-escalate tense situations, investing in community policing so they're already there and building trust before trouble arises, end implicit and explicit quotas for arrests/stops or governments relying on fines/fees as steady income)
12. Universal voter registration/updating, repairing the Voting Rights Act, making Election Day a federal holiday, and encouraging early voting in all states
13. Marijuana Legalization nationwide
14. Universal Gun Background & Mental Health Checks
15. the Equality Act, adding LGBT to antidiscrimination protection in employment/housing/medicine/adoption/education/public-accommodations/etc. at the national level
16. the Paycheck Fairness Act for gender equality and closing the pay gap


Trump has signed those 16 items into law in the year 2019.

Some Republicans like Cruz initially threatened to primary him, but no one followed through, and now FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and the RNC are all saying they were all inevitable and President Trump made sure these items were "done right" and how Trump and the Republicans can share credit because they made sure behind-the-scenes that the Democrats didn't send them a lousy bill.

So, let's say that happens. It's a reach, but treat it as the premise.





1. How do the typical citizens who are Democrats (or Democrat-leaning independents, or like-minded progressive 3rd partiers like the Greens and Socialists) think about all this and respond?

2. How do the Democratic congressional leadership, governors, etc. (excluding and including the presidential candidates) respond?

3. How do the Democratic primaries go? Who runs? What do they run on?

4. How does the general election go?

5. Would you vote differently from how you plan on voting now?



It's a "too good to come true" but fun hypothetical... just how would Democrats react to the Republicans having embraced all these things, after their Republican president signed onto them?

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

How does the Senate have a Dem supermajority? Under the current math, at least 10 Class 2/3 GOP Senators would have to vacate their seats, and we'd have to sweep every one (not to mention that this includes all 9 potential pickups next year!). I don't see that happening.

[Blue3]

How does the Senate have a Dem supermajority? Under the current math, at least 10 Class 2/3 GOP Senators would have to vacate their seats, and we'd have to sweep every one (not to mention that this includes all 9 potential pickups next year!). I don't see that happening.

Just assume the pick up a bunch of seats in November 2018 and others flip (like how Arlen Specter flipped during Obama), to have at least 60 seats (though they'd probably do away with the filibuster anyways, lowering cloture to 51). That's not something to focus on. The point is, the Democrats can pass what they want, and Trump signs these 16 (and maybe vetoes a few others like stopping construction of the wall).

[Rjjr77]

It's January 2020.

After getting a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate in 2018, the nonideological and desperate Trump signs on to all the progressive economic measures, and more, that they deliver to his desk (and they were almost all sponsored by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison, etc.)

Trump has signed into law:
1. Single-Payer Healthcare, also allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices and allow drug importations from other countries like Canada
2. universal mandatory paid family leave, sick leave, and vacation leave
3. $15/hour minimum wage
4. tax reform that includes the Buffet rule for millionaires, a carbon tax, and a financial transaction tax
5. elimination of the payroll FICA tax cap, and expanded Social Security... and transitioning Social Security into a Universal Basic Income for people of all ages that begins to replace many government bureaucracies
6. elimination of tax deductions/credits that favor the rich and wealthy corporations
7. a $3 trillion infrastructure bill
8. Single-Payer College for any student who keeps up at least a 2.0 GPA
9. Affordable Childcare
10. Universal PreK
11. Criminal Justice Reform (end for-profit prisons, low-level offenders not having mandatory minimums, nonviolent offenders offered treatment not jail, encourage police body cameras, requiring transparent databases where police have to report all violent incidents involving them or deaths/injuries while in police custody to the public, funds for police training on alternative approaches to de-escalate tense situations, investing in community policing so they're already there and building trust before trouble arises, end implicit and explicit quotas for arrests/stops or governments relying on fines/fees as steady income)
12. Universal voter registration/updating, repairing the Voting Rights Act, making Election Day a federal holiday, and encouraging early voting in all states
13. Marijuana Legalization nationwide
14. Universal Gun Background & Mental Health Checks
15. the Equality Act, adding LGBT to antidiscrimination protection in employment/housing/medicine/adoption/education/public-accommodations/etc. at the national level
16. the Paycheck Fairness Act for gender equality and closing the pay gap


Trump has signed those 16 items into law in the year 2019.

Some Republicans like Cruz initially threatened to primary him, but no one followed through, and now FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and the RNC are all saying they were all inevitable and President Trump made sure these items were "done right" and how Trump and the Republicans can share credit because they made sure behind-the-scenes that the Democrats didn't send them a lousy bill.

So, let's say that happens. It's a reach, but treat it as the premise.





1. How do the typical citizens who are Democrats (or Democrat-leaning independents, or like-minded progressive 3rd partiers like the Greens and Socialists) think about all this and respond?

2. How do the Democratic congressional leadership, governors, etc. (excluding and including the presidential candidates) respond?

3. How do the Democratic primaries go? Who runs? What do they run on?

4. How does the general election go?

5. Would you vote differently from how you plan on voting now?



It's a "too good to come true" but fun hypothetical... just how would Democrats react to the Republicans having embraced all these things, after their Republican president signed onto them?

Shouldn't this be elections what ifs

[Blue3]

It's about 2020.

Technically, it could happen.

Many people now are even saying Trump could swing to support single-payer.  (and these others are small fry compared to that)

Democrats could retake Congress in 2018 too.

[Rjjr77]

It's about 2020.

Technically, it could happen.

Many people now are even saying Trump could swing to support single-payer.  (and these others are small fry compared to that)

Democrats could retake Congress in 2018 too.

Yeah theres way too much fantasy here to seriously consider this.

[NeederNodder]

It's about 2020.

Technically, it could happen.

Many people now are even saying Trump could swing to support single-payer.  (and these others are small fry compared to that)

Democrats could retake Congress in 2018 too.

Yeah theres way too much fantasy here to seriously consider this.

I see Dems retaking congress before retaking the Senate in 2020 preferably.

[NOVA Green]

It's about 2020.

Technically, it could happen.

Many people now are even saying Trump could swing to support single-payer.  (and these others are small fry compared to that)

Democrats could retake Congress in 2018 too.

*If* Trump were to not only support, but pass single-payer, avoid getting us into any major ground wars overseas, invest in a dramatic domestic infrastructure investment project that is not simply corporate handouts, avoids going ape s**t crazy on the agenda of the religious right, without being perceived as betraying them by "doing a Reagan" (Lip service to the 25% of Americans that strongly identify with "the movement" but no substantive roll back of established Civil Rights (Non-activist Supreme Court), AND additionally helps protect the domestic manufacturing sector, while also avoiding a Wall Street meltdown circa 2008 style, he will likely win reelection in a landslide.

Getting a single-payer system firmly established alone, would likely win him a significant number of Democratic voters in 2020.... If you throw in the equivalent of a massive economic stimulus package in the form of infrastructural investment, and somehow find a way to significantly boost the domestic manufacturing sector that reaches rural, small-town, suburban, and urban America, with a messaging strategy similar to Reagan's "Morning in America" ads of 1984, there's a good chance this could happen.

Now, considering his current abysmal support levels among "Minority-Americans" this would likely be a tough proposition...  That being said, a pivot to the center on rhetoric, and throwing a few bucks towards "The Wall", namely in the form of a few symbolic visits to a handful of places where it actually makes a bit of sense to throw a 15 Mile barrier here or there, combined with increased funding for certain types of automated sensors, should allow him to keep his rabid base in line, so he can claim victory and then talk about normalization of status for hard-working individuals and extended families that have been in this country for decades.

It wasn't very many years ago when I lived in Texas hearing the term "Deporter in Chief", referring to Obama policies.

Basically most Americans aren't crazy about mass deportations... Unfortunately, most Americans aren't aware of how easy it is to be deported even if you have been living for over a decade in the United States,  married to an American citizen, children born in the United States with your spouse, simply because of relatively minor infractions such as speeding tickets, or even a first time DUI, which for most 1st time offenders that are American citizens would result in a ton of financial and legal consequences, but essentially punitively would be a relative slap on the wrist, albeit with significant financial penalties.

Pivoting back.... If Trump were to somehow get a single-payer system in place, which would reduce not only the costs for individual consumers, and pivot towards a Centrist on many other issues, he could well win reelection by significant margins in 2020, *despite* much of the antipathy and animus that much of the Democratic Base has towards him at this point in time.

Frankly, at this point, I think Trump's best play would be to pivot towards the Center and focus on items that are generally popular among Americans overall (Infrastructure, Prescription Drug Reform, Substance Abuse Prevention, Working and Middle-Class Tax Cuts) and basically provide lip service to the Republican Right, while governing as a Centrist.

[Confused Democrat]

It's January 2020.

After getting a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate in 2018, the nonideological and desperate Trump signs on to all the progressive economic measures, and more, that they deliver to his desk (and they were almost all sponsored by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison, etc.)

Trump has signed into law:
1. Single-Payer Healthcare, also allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices and allow drug importations from other countries like Canada
2. universal mandatory paid family leave, sick leave, and vacation leave
3. $15/hour minimum wage
4. tax reform that includes the Buffet rule for millionaires, a carbon tax, and a financial transaction tax
5. elimination of the payroll FICA tax cap, and expanded Social Security... and transitioning Social Security into a Universal Basic Income for people of all ages that begins to replace many government bureaucracies
6. elimination of tax deductions/credits that favor the rich and wealthy corporations
7. a $3 trillion infrastructure bill
8. Single-Payer College for any student who keeps up at least a 2.0 GPA
9. Affordable Childcare
10. Universal PreK
11. Criminal Justice Reform (end for-profit prisons, low-level offenders not having mandatory minimums, nonviolent offenders offered treatment not jail, encourage police body cameras, requiring transparent databases where police have to report all violent incidents involving them or deaths/injuries while in police custody to the public, funds for police training on alternative approaches to de-escalate tense situations, investing in community policing so they're already there and building trust before trouble arises, end implicit and explicit quotas for arrests/stops or governments relying on fines/fees as steady income)
12. Universal voter registration/updating, repairing the Voting Rights Act, making Election Day a federal holiday, and encouraging early voting in all states
13. Marijuana Legalization nationwide
14. Universal Gun Background & Mental Health Checks
15. the Equality Act, adding LGBT to antidiscrimination protection in employment/housing/medicine/adoption/education/public-accommodations/etc. at the national level
16. the Paycheck Fairness Act for gender equality and closing the pay gap


Trump has signed those 16 items into law in the year 2019.

Some Republicans like Cruz initially threatened to primary him, but no one followed through, and now FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and the RNC are all saying they were all inevitable and President Trump made sure these items were "done right" and how Trump and the Republicans can share credit because they made sure behind-the-scenes that the Democrats didn't send them a lousy bill.

So, let's say that happens. It's a reach, but treat it as the premise.





1. How do the typical citizens who are Democrats (or Democrat-leaning independents, or like-minded progressive 3rd partiers like the Greens and Socialists) think about all this and respond?

2. How do the Democratic congressional leadership, governors, etc. (excluding and including the presidential candidates) respond?

3. How do the Democratic primaries go? Who runs? What do they run on?

4. How does the general election go?

5. Would you vote differently from how you plan on voting now?



It's a "too good to come true" but fun hypothetical... just how would Democrats react to the Republicans having embraced all these things, after their Republican president signed onto them?

Trump would not be a Republican (as we define it today) at this point.

He'd be a progressive Democrat in todays terms. I say in today's terms because if this were to happen, it'd mean that there was a massive political realignment.

What would be differentiating the two parties at this point? I can't even imagine, so it's kind of hard to answer this hypothetical.

[pbrower2a]

Fantasy: the President has a conscience!

[Hindsight was 2020]

Sean Spicer just bashed single payer at his press conference so no Trump is full blown "let the market decide" his talk on the campaign trail was a scam

[Blue3]

Trump would not be a Republican (as we define it today) at this point.

He'd be a progressive Democrat in todays terms. I say in today's terms because if this were to happen, it'd mean that there was a massive political realignment.

What would be differentiating the two parties at this point? I can't even imagine, so it's kind of hard to answer this hypothetical.

Exactly, that's what I'm asking with this thread.


Would Democrats go full corporatists, saying these measures went too far? Doubtful.

Would Democrats go full communist, saying we must nationalize everything? Doubtful.

Would we enter into a new "Era of Good Feelings", or like the consensus we had in the 1940's/1950's? It's hard to imagine people warming up to Trump with what he has said and done and how he acts.

Would Democrats only focus on
-illegal immigrant sanctuaries, tearing down the wall, Muslim refugees, and a pathway to citizenship
-amendments on campaign finance and the electoral college
-outlawing oil and natural gas and coal
-environmental and animal protections
-bank breakups
-housing projects
-cutting military spending
-being cosmopolitan citizens of planet Earth
-trigger warnings and safe spaces
-as well as just being a more respectable and dignified kind of President
...since those would be the only things still differentiating them from Trump
...but with only that as a platform, risk becoming a minority party?

[RaphaelDLG]

Trump would get primaried FOR SURE by some Koch-backed freedom caucus type.  OFC, they would lose in this scenario.  Congressional Democrats would probably for the most part go along with his proposals and try to make contrasts on others.  Maybe if the polls were so crushing they would punt and say that they'd be excited to work with either presidential candidate

[heatcharger]

Trump wins in a landslide totaling 380-400 EVs, but there are too many reasons to oppose him outside of his domestic policy, so I certainly would never vote for him even if he did all the things you mentioned. Also, Trump is extremely easily manipulated by whoever spoke to him most recently, and since his inner circle is way too conservative, they won't let even one thing on this agenda ever happen.

[Medal506]

Really? If Trump were to do this he wouldn't only be primaried by someone to the right of him but he would probably lose his re nomination for the Republican Party

[AGA]

This would probably be the biggest con in the history of US politics. I don't like the financial transaction tax. I would consider voting for him depending on his job performance, but he certainly would not win the Republican nomination.

[Kringla Heimsins]

Some Tea-Party Republican would do an independent run in the General if Trump crushes his primary challengers. This may result in a split in the Party, maybe like the Democrats after the 60's.

[TheSaint250]

It's about 2020.

Technically, it could happen.

Many people now are even saying Trump could swing to support single-payer.  (and these others are small fry compared to that)

Democrats could retake Congress in 2018 too.

Yeah theres way too much fantasy here to seriously consider this.

I see Dems retaking congress before retaking the Senate in 2020 preferably.

There is virtually no chance of that.  Besides Dean Heller and Jeff Flake, the most vulnerable Republican would be Ted Cruz. From Texas.

Definitely not before 2020 (*if no special elections in swing states*)

[Fuzzy Bear]

If Trump did all of this, he'd decline to run for re-election, and would be considered the most successful one-term President since Lincoln.

[RINO Tom]

If Trump did all of this, he'd decline to run for re-election, and would be considered the most successful one-term President since Lincoln.

Sounds like you're more appreciative of the liberal state than your signature lets on.

[Deblano]

If Trump did all of this, he'd decline to run for re-election, and would be considered the most successful one-term President since Lincoln.

Sounds like you're more appreciative of the liberal state than your signature lets on.

[Technocracy Timmy]

If Trump did all of this, he'd decline to run for re-election, and would be considered the most successful one-term President since Lincoln.

Sounds like you're more appreciative of the liberal state than your signature lets on.

Maybe he's just socially conservative and fiscally liberal? Plenty of Americans fit that mold.

[RINO Tom]

If Trump did all of this, he'd decline to run for re-election, and would be considered the most successful one-term President since Lincoln.

Sounds like you're more appreciative of the liberal state than your signature lets on.

Maybe he's just socially conservative and fiscally liberal? Plenty of Americans fit that mold.

It was certainly a toungue-in-cheek response on my part, as (in my experience) social conservatives often feel they have a monopoly on the term, and anyone who rejects some of their more reactionary beliefs is automatically a "RINO," but they can reject economic conservatism all they want.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

This would probably be the biggest con in the history of US politics. I don't like the financial transaction tax. I would consider voting for him depending on his job performance, but he certainly would not win the Republican nomination.

Why not? This is exactly what we want except for #13 (which I'd accept for political purposes) and Republican instagram would say #16 is a fake issue. 10 probably wouldn't happen and 3 should be a lower increase, but this is a great list of goals for a second half of first term.

[Kingpoleon]

It's January 2020.

After getting a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate in 2018, the nonideological and desperate Trump signs on to all the progressive economic measures, and more, that they deliver to his desk (and they were almost all sponsored by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison, etc.)

Trump has signed into law:
1. Single-Payer Healthcare, also allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices and allow drug importations from other countries like Canada
2. universal mandatory paid family leave, sick leave, and vacation leave
3. $15/hour minimum wage
4. tax reform that includes the Buffet rule for millionaires, a carbon tax, and a financial transaction tax
5. elimination of the payroll FICA tax cap, and expanded Social Security... and transitioning Social Security into a Universal Basic Income for people of all ages that begins to replace many government bureaucracies
6. elimination of tax deductions/credits that favor the rich and wealthy corporations
7. a $3 trillion infrastructure bill
8. Single-Payer College for any student who keeps up at least a 2.0 GPA
9. Affordable Childcare
10. Universal PreK
11. Criminal Justice Reform (end for-profit prisons, low-level offenders not having mandatory minimums, nonviolent offenders offered treatment not jail, encourage police body cameras, requiring transparent databases where police have to report all violent incidents involving them or deaths/injuries while in police custody to the public, funds for police training on alternative approaches to de-escalate tense situations, investing in community policing so they're already there and building trust before trouble arises, end implicit and explicit quotas for arrests/stops or governments relying on fines/fees as steady income)
12. Universal voter registration/updating, repairing the Voting Rights Act, making Election Day a federal holiday, and encouraging early voting in all states
13. Marijuana Legalization nationwide
14. Universal Gun Background & Mental Health Checks
15. the Equality Act, adding LGBT to antidiscrimination protection in employment/housing/medicine/adoption/education/public-accommodations/etc. at the national level
16. the Paycheck Fairness Act for gender equality and closing the pay gap


Trump has signed those 16 items into law in the year 2019.

Some Republicans like Cruz initially threatened to primary him, but no one followed through, and now FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and the RNC are all saying they were all inevitable and President Trump made sure these items were "done right" and how Trump and the Republicans can share credit because they made sure behind-the-scenes that the Democrats didn't send them a lousy bill.

So, let's say that happens. It's a reach, but treat it as the premise.





1. How do the typical citizens who are Democrats (or Democrat-leaning independents, or like-minded progressive 3rd partiers like the Greens and Socialists) think about all this and respond?

2. How do the Democratic congressional leadership, governors, etc. (excluding and including the presidential candidates) respond?

3. How do the Democratic primaries go? Who runs? What do they run on?

4. How does the general election go?

5. Would you vote differently from how you plan on voting now?



It's a "too good to come true" but fun hypothetical... just how would Democrats react to the Republicans having embraced all these things, after their Republican president signed onto them?

1., 2., and 7. are semi-realistic. If those were passed, I imagine Ron Wyden would dominate the Democratic primary with cries of "Social and civil liberties, and economic moderation!" Democrats will always oppose Trump on everything, even if it means compromising their former beliefs.